With no adjudicator on site, Tel Aviv must wait for Guinness to verify whether block tower claims new record

A group of municipal workers and volunteers in Israel are vying for a new world record with a 36-meter (118-foot) toy block tower erected in front of Tel Aviv city hall in memory of LEGO-loving eight-year-old Omer Sayag, who died of cancer in 2014.

More than half a million brightly colored plastic bricks donated by Tel Aviv residents were used to construct the ‘Omer Tower’ on Wednesday. The tower features sections with designs of the Israeli flag, butterflies, Christmas trees, Hebrew and Arabic inscriptions, and other caricatures.

The tower project was launched by Omer’s kindergarten teachers Ben Klinger and Shirley Bardugo, together with his family, and with the support of the Tel Aviv Municipality and “Young Engineers”, an Israeli company teaching children science and robotics around the world.

The toy block tower was assembled with the help of thousands of volunteers in three days of complex engineering.

“There are many technical challenges,” Amir Asor, founder of ‘Young Engineers’ said, noting that the endeavor involved “precise technical planning, quickly but delicately transporting the constructed floors from the study centers to the tower site, 3 cranes to lift the tower that weighs over one ton, engineering reinforcement, safety engineers accompanying each phase and, most importantly, maximum coordination among all of the players.”

The project was inspired by young Omer’s love for LEGO. Omer, who died two years ago shortly before his ninth birthday, built beautiful and complex structures while he underwent treatments and even submitted a Taj Mahal replication to a LEGO exhibition in 2014.

With no Guinness World Records adjudicator on site to measure the block tower, the municipality must wait for the body to review submitted evidence, including drone photos, in order to verify the city's claim at a new world record.

According to Guinness World Records, the previous title was set in 2015 when the Italian subsidiary of LEGO built a 35.05-meter (115-foot) tower for the Milan World Expo.